Having to Make a Sports Deal

Getting involved with archery manufacturers is tough on my ego. I hate asking for support. Each year I swear it will be the last time I approach any company with my hand out. Each year I still approach companies with my hand out.

In sports, hunting sponsors seems to be part of the game. As athletes improve the sports sponsorship deals become better. To initiate the sponsorship process the athlete has to make the preliminary contact most of the time. Big companies like Nike don’t accept requests for help; they have scouts that contact top athletes. Archery manufacturers may have scouts, I wouldn’t know for certain. A fellow, at a 3D tournament, told me he’d been scouted and recruited by Mathews and was a member of their ProStaff. He was wearing, as proof, one of those flamboyant shirts that simultaneously announced Mathews while expanding his head.

Maybe that archer was as he claimed a member of the Mathews professional elite factory team. Supporting evidence, that is from an independent source (like the Mathews webpage) seemed inconclusive at best. Certainly the archer could have been a local archery shop’s premier selection whereby he adorned, for the local shop, a Mathews jersey while he pranced around local 3D competitions. (For paranoid readers in North Carolina: This archer and the recounted events here occurred outside the Tar Heel State) The strutting archer, in my humble opinion, wasn’t a top choice for product representation or placement.

Once, I tried to persuade an archery shop to help me become associated with a bow manufacturer so that I too might wear one of those colorful banner shirts. The owner promised help, all I needed to do was drive to his shop for his sagely advice and direction. He’d even assured me my efforts would be rewarded with the prized apparel. Among the advantages of being under his wing included substantial discounts on all supplies he sold.

In preparation for our in person meeting I sent, as requested, resume and results. Where after my arrival there followed serious conversation, acceptances and wringing handshakes. Before departure the complimentary proprietor tried, unsuccessfully, to sell me a new much improved bow. I did depart with a new 3D target and supplemental attachment for my old inferior bow, both conveyed at full price. Nevertheless, I’d offered my hand and remained true to my word accepting his shop for promotional placement on my website for the term of one-year.

Over that year a different archery shop approached me to see if I’d be interested in becoming one of their sponsored shooters. Sadly, and perhaps foolishly, I declined the offer based on the value of the prior handshake contract, which in hindsight seems to have been unilateral.

Today, I bumped a sponsor from my website. I liked their products and used them. They approached me to become a member of their staff. Until that contact, I’d never heard of the company. We signed a deal. Nevertheless, that company no longer has my attention. The notice is most likely mutual.

Their initial representative seemed like a smart fellow and understood marketing. As he grew within his organization a variety of product managers rolled into and out of his earlier vacated job. It reached a point where I simply did not know who was my contact and eventually the company become to me more worry that worth.

In that ex-sponsor’s spot I’ll be soon announce a new agreement and arrangement. Again, it will be a company that I sought, with reason – I use their products.

We’ve signed a deal and I’ll get a discount when I need more of their goods. I don’t currently need any of their wares; I am fully stocked via previous retail acquisition. My reasons for seeking them out: 1) They seemed like nice people, 2) I use their products, and 3) the company is based in my home state of Georgia.

For me getting sponsorship is less about money, shirts, or ego. It has to do with getting to understand the business of archery. Occasionally, I learn a bit about the organization that sponsors me. As such I expand my knowledge about the sport and athletics.

By the way, I do have one of those vibrant ProStaff archery shirts. It even has my name printed on the front at back. I rarely wear it. See I don’t get paid to wear it, and it does make me feel a little self-conscious. The self-consciousness most likely could be remedied by an injection of cash.